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30 Jan 2007 : Column 258Wcontinued
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the value of fraudulent benefit claims which could be detected annually if a definitive national database of addresses existed. [116285]
Mr. Plaskitt: There has been no estimate made of the value of fraudulent claims which could be detected annually if a definitive national database of addresses existed.
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many fines were issued for benefit fraud in each year for which figures are available; and how much was received from such fines in each year. [116582]
Mr. Plaskitt: Information regarding the value of fines is not available. The available information is in the following table.
Fines imposed by court and administrative penalties imposed by DWP | ||||
Fines imposed by court | Administrative penalties | |||
Benefit cases( 1) | Instrument of payment fraud | Benefit cases( 1) | Instrument of payment fraud | |
(1) Not including instrument of payment fraud. Note: Figures include General Matching Service cases. Source: Fraud Information by Sector. |
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many full-time equivalent fraud investigators his Department employs; and how many customer compliance officers his Department employed in each year since 2004. [116585]
Mr. Plaskitt:
In April 2006 the National Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) was launched to combat fraud through a more focused, sanction orientated organisation. In addition, from April 2006 we introduced new Customer Compliance Officers to tackle low-level abuse that cannot be taken through the criminal courts. There are currently 810 full-time
equivalent staff employed in the Customer Compliance process. Information regarding the number of DWP fraud investigators is in the following table.
DWP fraud investigators (full-time equivalents) | |
April to March each year: | Number |
Source: Fraud Business Report |
DWP fraud investigations | |||
DWP successful prosecutions | DWP cautions and administrative penalties | Total | |
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what evaluations his Department has conducted of the use of biometric data as a means by which to reduce benefit fraud. [116595]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department for Work and Pensions recognises that the introduction of identity verification services, to be provided by the Identity and Passport Service as part of the National Identity Card scheme, will have a significant impact on the ability of fraudsters to make claims for social security benefits using more than one identity.
Work is still ongoing to establish how the Department will make use of the identity verification services and of the impact the National Identity scheme will have on other forms of benefit fraud. This work will take account of the use of biometric data.
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many fraud inspectors there were in his Department to investigate (a) incapacity benefit fraud and (b) other benefit fraud in each year since 2004. [101110]
Mr. Plaskitt: In April 2006 the National Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) was launched to combat fraud through a more focused, sanction orientated organisation. In addition, from April 2006 we introduced new Customer Compliance Officers to tackle low-level abuse that cannot be taken through the criminal courts.
Benefit fraud investigators in the Department for Work and Pensions deal with allegations of benefit fraud relating to all benefits administered by this Department. We do not employ a specific number of staff to investigate incapacity benefit.
DWP fraud investigators (full-time equivalents) | |
Number | |
Source: Fraud Business Report |
DWP fraud investigations | ||
2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much overpayment his Department recovered in each benefit in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [102166]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is in the following tables:
2001-02 | |
Benefit | £ |
2002-03 | |
Benefit | £ |
2003-04 | |
Benefit | £ |
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